Play Acting
by RingPrincess
Summary: Gippal has always thought of Rikku as a little sister and treated her that way, so who else would he turn to escape the attentions of another woman. Yet, what happens when the line between reality and appearances becomes blurred. Complete


A/N Final Fantasy X-2 and all characters within are property of Square Enix Ltd and not of me! (oh, damn… can I have Gippal, please!)

Please direct all comments and remarks to me in a review or at my email, which you can find in my profile along with more about me.

Play Acting

By Ringy-P

In a large room with an equally large round table Paine was trying to avoid Baralai. She was mad at him still for the whole Vegnagun/ Shuyin and being left out of the loop thing and she said she basically couldn't trust him. Rikku thought she was being silly and told her so, loudly and often. But Paine was still trying to dodge him at every turn. Rikku giggled from near the door, the poor guy looked so frustrated.

Yuna was lost in another world with Tidus, which was pretty much the usual the since he'd returned. Rikku shifted on the balls of her feet and the only other person who had arrived yet was Gippal and he. He was acting strange. Gippal paced back and forth, staring at the floor and glancing at her from time to time. It was unnerving so Rikku tried to ignore him by focusing on Paine and Baralai. Their antics were much more amusing and straightforward than Gippal's behavior.

Rikku sniggered as Paine dodged around a chair yet again to get away from Baralai. Rikku's attention was taken away from this sight as a warm hand wrapped around the top of her arm. She looked up, mouth shaped in an oh and eyes wide to see Gippal.

"Umm, Cid's girl, may I talk to you?" He asked.

"What?" she glanced at the others. They hadn't noticed. "Ah, sure," she muttered and followed out of the room, down the hall to a small alcove, his hand on the top of her arm the whole time like he was afraid she would run away.

He dropped her arm once they were alone and began pacing again. "I, ah, need a favor." He rubbed the back of his neck.

Rikku stared and her eyes narrowed. 'Gippal needs a favor from me. Uh huh, I don't get it. I'm like family to him.' She thought. "What type of favor?" There was no way Rikku was going to get caught in the Yuna trap!

Gippal sighed, he stopped walking and his shoulder slouched. "Well, you see there is this girl. Hoo boy, this sounds bad already," he paused and shifted his weight. "Anyways, this girl, she likes me, I mean really likes me. Almost to the point of obsession I guess. It's been rather bothersome for the past month or so and well, I don't like her."

"Okay, that's the situation. Not the favor," Rikku pointed out and crossed her arms. "Spill it."

He took a deep breath, "Be my girlfriend." He said in a rush.

"What?"

"Pretend to be my girl long enough to get this other girl off my back," Gippal explained.

"I heard you the first time, my brain is just having a hard time understanding it." Rikku muttered and shook her head. "Who's the girl?"

"Avril, Lee's daughter," Gippal shifted from foot to foot.

"Lee's the guy whose been organizing the remaining Al Bhed on Bikanel, right."

"Yeah, at least the one's who aren't working for me or Cid." Gippal nodded.

"I can see Avril doing this," Rikku muttered and shook her head. "Okay, why me? I mean, why not Elma or Lucil or Calli or a dozen other woman I could name off the top of my head."

"One, you're Al Bhed, two, you're of the age, three, you've got status, four you're Cid's girl and five you're believable. Basically, the type of girl I'd go after if I-"

"Don't finish that sentence," Rikku interrupted. She stared at him, 'he's leaving something out. I mean those are good reasons I guess, but still.' She tapped her foot. "And?"

Gippal gulped. "I, ah, already told some people so word would get back to Avril."

"You did," Rikku's voice dropped.

"Umm, yeah." Gippal nodded.

"You jackass," Rikku hissed. "So in effect you've made it that I have NO choice but to go along with your little scheme. Good going, Gippal!" She threw her hands in the air.

"Well, we could be arguing." He suggested.

"But we are still going out according to the rumors!" She sighed and rubbed her temples. "Okay, okay, what am I getting in return?"

He stayed silent and she looked up at him. Her eyes widened in disbelief.

"You, you, jackass," she sputtered not being able to think of a better curse. "You want me to do this for you and you have no clue what to give me in return!" She marched over so that she was six inches from him. "You owe me," she poked his chest. "You owe me big time!" She glared up at him.

"So, you'll do it," he smiled in relief.

She ground her teeth. "I don't have a choice, you made sure of it, thank you very much." She whirled on her heel and began to stalk out, but before she could leave entirely something occurred to her. "So, umm how close are we supposed to be?" She asked over her shoulder.

Gippal licked his lips. "Close, real close."

"And when is this charade supposed to start?" She spat.

"Now," he said weakly. Her eyes were like green fire, he noted.

"And I'm a terrible actress," she muttered and looked away from him and towards the exit. "You know that, right?"

"Relax, it'll be fine. We could still be arguing." He suggested as he walked past her. He grabbed her hand as he passed though and intertwined his fingers with hers.

"That's comforting," she muttered and did a hop skip and jump to catch up with him before he dragged her too far. "Why me?"

He compensated to match his stride to hers. "Because you were the best choice, believe me on this Rikku."

She shook her head, not really noticing their matched walk or the fact he'd called her by her name. Her brain was onto the next problem. "Okay, I understand why Yunie is here, but why Paine and I? Other than the fact that were her friends and fellow Gullwings," Rikku said hurriedly so he wouldn't answer in that way.

"Cause you're Cid's girl and Paine is Paine," he replied, swinging their hands.

"Why is being Cid's girl important?" She whined. "Why can't I just be Rikku and be done with it? You don't hear people calling Brother, Cid's boy."

"I think you miss the whole idea behind being Cid's daughter. The Cid," Gippal muttered.

"Okay, Cid, my Pops is the one who united the Al Bhed enough to create Home. I'd still just rather be considered Rikku." She replied.

"It's a status thing."

"I'll give you status, Yunie's Gaurdian, savior of Spira TWICE, Gullwing and Machina expert. These things I did on my own and should give me more status than being the daughter of a cranky old man."

"Being Cid's girl still helps," Gippal muttered. "And you only helped save Spira twice."

"I still helped!" Rikku protested. "That's important. But still doesn't answer my question." She glanced around the room. More people had shown up and were milling about.

"Well, Cid can't make it, Brother refuses to come and Rin wants no part in governing anything so you are representing Cid."

Rikku's eyes widened "Oh, you should have mentioned that earlier. And Avril?"

"Representing her father," Gippal sighed. He pulled a chair out and dropped into it. Rikku stood for a few seconds and thought about it.

"Gotcha," she plopped down into the chair right next to his. He still hadn't let her hand go and she looked at it and looked up at him. He shook his head and so she abandoned any thought of getting her hand back. He grinned and rubbed the side of her hand with his thumb. She bit the inside of her lip. 'I should lean towards him, it's a coupley thing to do right?' She leaned towards him and focused all her attention on him. "So, why are we here then? And you still haven't explained Paine," she reminded. He shifted towards her as well.

"Paine's a recorder, an observer and someone needs to do that while we set up a new government."

"Just like that," Rikku muttered.

Gippal chuckled. "Oh come on, at least Spira is organizing. It's been how long since Vegnagun?"

Rikku shook her head. "Point taken, so why bring the Al Bhed in this."

"Too many of us wandering about Spira and getting off our island these days. We should have some say in how things work."

She cocked her head away from him and nodded. She took her attention off him and glanced about the room to see whom all was there. "Just remember, no guilt tripping Yunie into being leader of this. She's a Gullwing."

"Yes dear," he mocked. "Anyways, Nooj should be leader."

"Nooj is an asshole," Rikku muttered and glanced at him for his reaction.

"And I'm a jackass," Gippal wiggled his eyebrows.

She flushed and looked away. "Why not you?"

"Oh nice stroke to my ego, but nah, too much work." He shrugged. "I'm lazy."

Rikku went back to observing the table and checking off people on a sort of mental checklist. Yunie and Tidus and Paine were sitting near each other a chair or so away from her and Gippal. Nooj had just taken a seat next to Gippal and Baralai had claimed a seat near Paine. Lucil and Elma had taken chairs one seat away from Nooj, which meant LeBlanc had to be about someplace. It wasn't in anybodies good health to get between her and her man. The chair between Lucil and Baralai had Isaaru sitting in it. Which meant there was only one person missing from this party or meeting as the case may be.

"Avril's late," Rikku muttered.

"She'll come, if I'm here, she'll come." Gippal predicted as Avril strode through the door.

"Speak of the Aeon," Rikku sighed and waved her over.

Gippal smirked as he saw Avril come up short. The only way to tell that Avril was looking between him and Rikku was the movement of her head since goggles hid her eyes. Avril pulled them down so she could glare at the two of them more effectively. 'Oh, that man,' Avril ground her teeth.

'Her goggles make an interesting necklace', Rikku thought inanely. 'I remember wearing mine like that once, when I wore them.' She quickly took in the details about the rest of her 'rival.' She was dark skinned, about Buddy's color, so from the recessive line of Al Bhed then, but wore the standard mini corset dress of most Al Bhed females. Rikku sighed. 'Some folks just need to get off the island and discover more than bikini's and corsets. Yeowch. Not that I can talk too much.' Rikku did manage to smile at her. "Long time, Avril. Haven't seen you since before Home was destroyed."

Avril skipped the pleasantries. "I see that the rumors surrounding you Rikku, for once are true." Avril didn't want to think about home or certain people surrounding it, though one was sitting right in front of her leaning towards yet another former citizen of Home.

Rikku giggled. "Which rumors are those? The saving Spira ones or the one's about my personal life? I lose track of them so easily."

Avril sat down and crossed her legs. "Your personal life," she glared pointedly at Gippal. "I thought Gippal was shitting me."

Rikku glanced at Gippal. He gave her his best, 'I'm innocent, really' look. She glared at him and tried to smooth her face out before glancing back at Avril.

"Gippal told you," she mused and then shook her head. "Oh, it's not important."

"Yeah, whatever," Avril twisted her lips.

Rikku leaned back and tightened her hand on Gippal's as if she had just figured out that Avril was a rival for his affections. She frowned. "Well, relationships aside," she muttered then raised her voice, "can we just start? Since," she glanced around to make sure all the seats were filled. "Everyone's here," she finished.

Nooj cleared his throat and began the meeting. Which turned into a large-scale argument between the former Youth League and New Yevon members or Isaaru and Nooj. LeBlanc had her own two cents punctuated by the word 'loves.' Rikku and Gippal leaned back and shook their heads at the mayhem. Tidus and Avril were just lost. Paine observed, elbows on the table, as was her function according to Gippal and the others just went at it like roosters. The fact that the formal government had been based in what was now known to be a false religion wasn't helping matters and the fact that they were holding this meeting in Bevelle was making them worse. Getting a word in edge wise around the yelling and table thumping was difficult for those who actually cared and even Yuna's most reasonable voice and peace making abilities were being ignored.

The odd tweet of the Gullwing communications system broke through the yelling and quieted everyone down.

"Yu."

"Ri."

"Pa."

The girls said into their mikes, ignoring the stares pointed at them from the members of the table who'd been more into the argument.

"Sphere waves from the Moonflow. Gullwings, move out!" Brother's ever-expressive voice ordered. Wisely none the girls argued. Each was tired in their own way about the arguing in the meeting and wanted some action to relieve the stress.

Paine stood up first and placed her hands on the table, leaning in towards the rest. "My recommendation, combine the Youth League and New Yevon forces, give them a common name and a common uniform. That should solve most of your problems. We'll leave the rest to you testosterone ridden males." She pushed away from the table and began to leave, "and a few estrogen ridden females."

Yuna hugged Tidus. "Have fun," he whispered in her ear.

"I always do," she giggled and kissed his cheek. She turned to the table as well. "No giving me any leadership positions," she wagged her finger at them.

Paine snorted where she waited at the door.

Rikku leaned over and up and kissed Gippal gently on the lips, enjoying and hating the sensation and the reason for it, especially when he responded. "Sorry," she murmured into his ear. "Work beckons." She slid out of her seat to leave and had to detangle her fingers from his, as he didn't want to let go.

"And the Al Bhed?" Nooj asked sarcastically.

Rikku paused and turned to look back at them full on, placing a hand on her hip. "Pops has a saying. It's something to the effect of, _ev ed yeh'd pnuga, tuh'd veq ed_. Meaning, if it ain't broke, don't fix it." She smirked and turned to jog after her companions. 'One kiss,' she thought. 'I got out of this favor by holding hands and one kiss. Wonderful, that was easy. The jackass still owes me.'

Avril switched seats as soon as Rikku was gone. Gippal sighed and turned his attention back to the meeting. The quarrels began again.

--

The questions began in the lift of the Celsius, where Rikku couldn't get away.

"So," Yuna leaned close to Rikku. "I saw that kiss. You and Gippal a couple now?"

Rikku leaned away and colored. She shook her head.

Yuna's eyes widened and Paine gave a small smile. "Somebody's either lying," Yuna said seriously. "Or in denial." The lift opened and they walked down the hall towards the bridge. "You two looked pretty close at that meeting." The bridge doors opened and Yuna's voice carried inside. "Really, Rikku snuggling while we're deciding the future of Spira."

"Snuggling?" Brother pounced on the word and vaulted out of the pilot's chair. "Who was snuggling and why wasn't I there to watch?"

"Rikku and Gippal," Paine supplied.

"Gippal!" Brother shouted. "Why does Gippal get all the action!"

Rikku ran and shoved Brother. "Sicko. I'm your sister. Plus it isn't like that at all." She pouted. "I'm doing him a favor."

"Some favor," Paine muttered.

"Yeah, a favor they both enjoy." Yuna teased. Tidus was rubbing off on her.

Rikku colored more and covered her face. "He so owes me big time." She looked up. "Though I might have got off light." She brightened.

"Don't think this is over yet," Paine warned.

"Thank you pessimism," Rikku muttered. "Let's get that sphere."

"While you can tell us about this favor," Yuna grinned.

Rikku groaned.

--

The sphere was a dud, but the fiend guarding it had been interesting with things to steal and the views of the Moonflow underwater city had been breath taking between fielding off questions about the favor she was doing for Gippal. They still didn't believe her. Rikku had given up after an hour of shrieking and turning red. She was raving about the city instead, that and the bandits who had shown up to try to take their sphere as they got off the Celsius at Djose. They had received a message telling them that was where Tidus had ended up after the meeting at Bevelle. It appeared that Gippal had offered Tidus a job to help him make money on the off-season of blitz.

"I think Pops should put set up tours there," Rikku said. "Or excavate it instead of trying that hare brained stunt at Zanarkand. Which, thanks to you Yunie he's seen sense about. I mean he can't do tours of Home since it's a pile of fiend infested scrap metal."

"Which could be excavated," Paine added.

Rikku nodded. "I don't know what Pops has in mind for that. No other Al Bhed dare touch it since Home was so much a part of Pops." She hopped down the stairs between the bridges. "I know he's not going to rebuild it though."

"Thanks to the commspheres," Yuna grinned.

"You never know when you might need a commsphere. At least Shinra was smart enough to give it Gippal this time. We haven't been burgled in a while." Rikku giggled.

"I'm sure he keeps it just to talk to you," Yuna couldn't resist adding.

"That girl from the meeting is here," Paine observed dispassionately. "And she looks like she wants to pounce on Gippal. Good thing he's across the clearing from her."

"What, Avril?" Rikku's mouth made an oh. "Oh, great. She was supposed to have headed back to Bikanel, I think."

"Looks like you'll have to keep going, not that you mind." Paine smiled.

"Ooh," Rikku clenched her fist. "Figures you'd get enjoyment out of this. There's Gippal and Tidus, let's go."

'Yes,' Paine thought. 'Watching you embarrassing yourself is quite entertaining. I can get years worth of blackmail material.'

Gippal had three seconds worth of warning before Rikku threw her arms about his neck and began kissing him passionately. Three seconds because he barely saw her out of the corner of his eye. He wrapped his arms around her waist to support her and returned the kiss. Thinking was optional for the next few moments. When she broke away and he could think again it was rather difficult. 'I think Cid's girl is a bit too into this.' And deciding what to say was harder. "So, how was work?" he gasped, thinking that was the most neutral thing he could think of, he licked his lips and discovered the taste of her lip-gloss, strawberry-banana. It was like sugar sweet candy.

"The usual," she grinned up at him. "We shaky-shakied our way in, got the sphere, fought a fiend and shaky-shakied our way back out." She wiggled against him to prove her point. Gippal blinked.

"Oh really," he looked over to Yuna for confirmation. It appeared that he wasn't the only one getting special treatment. Yuna had her arms wrapped around Tidus' waist, his back to her chest and her head resting against his shoulder, looking at the two of them with a grin on her face.

"Yep, of course Rikku's been going on more about the romantic sights than anything else."

"Hey," Rikku protested.

"Hmm, we'll have to check it out then," Gippal smiled.

Rikku resisted the urge to pinch him, but let his neck go instead. She grinned up at him. "An underwater city illuminated by pyreflies and sunlight, what is more romantic than that?"

"Lots of things we won't mention in public," Gippal muttered and released her waist with one arm. So Rikku could move if she wanted. She took just enough advantage of it to turn and move into his side.

"Avril's still here," she bit her lip.

"Don't remind me," Gippal ran his free hand through his hair. "I swear if Tidus wasn't here." He trailed off because what he wanted to say next wouldn't sound good with Rikku hanging off of him. She'd punch him.

"So," Paine walked up, seeing that since the 'couples' were now talking it was safe to interrupt. "What was decided?"

"Almost absolutely nothing," Tidus shook his head.

"Gee, that's helpful." Rikku muttered. "So, why'd you break up the meeting?"

"Certain heads needed time to cool off," Gippal answered and buried his head in Rikku's hair. He found it hard to breath so rested his chin on the top of her head instead.

"And the Machine Faction?" Rikku asked.

"That's just it, we got stuck on organization." Tidus shrugged. "I'm just a blitzer, what do I know about that?"

Yuna pinched him and he jumped.

"Ouch, what was that for?"

"Don't put yourself down like that," Yuna chided. "You may be a blitz ball player but a blitz player has to know what players are best in what positions and that requires organization!"

"I don't care about that, I just want to play!" Tidus protested. "It wasn't like I'm the team captain or anything."

"Plus," Yuna went on without listening to him. "You know the value of teamwork, which is what a governmental system is, a team!"

Paine nodded. "We can't forget that, lack of teamwork is what pulled us apart in the first place."

"I think," Rikku paused. "That for a new government to work we need to involve the Ronso, Guado and the Hypello as well."

"Shit," Gippal lifted his chin off her hair and cursed. "You're right."

"I'll go talk to Kimhari," Yuna volunteered. "The Ronso need a goal and they want to explore Spira more as well."

"And Trommell for the Guado, who need a reason to live more than the Mcalania Player's music," Rikku nodded.

"That leaves the Hypello and they aren't too hard to find. I'll start with Darling and Barkeep. They should know whom I should get in touch with," Paine volunteered.

"You know," Rikku mused and looked up. "Blitzball is about the only thing we together as a planet, though the Hypello don't have a team. I vote that if we have a capital in lieu of Bevelle being considered a capital we move it to Luca."

"Nothing would ever get done," Tidus protested.

"I'm just thinking that Luca is neutral ground and at this point that is really what we need." Rikku defended her position.

"Hold the meeting there," Yuna brightened. "Then no one would feel threatened about being on somebody else's turf. It might just work."

Gippal looked between the three girls.

Paine nodded. "It just might."

Tidus frowned and raised an eyebrow at Gippal. Gippal shrugged. Tidus had to ask though. "You three do this often?"

"That's why we're a team!" Rikku cheered.

Paine shrugged. "Rikku, strangely enough, is the brains and morale. Yuna makes the decisions and I'm there for advice and support. Don't question it too much."

"It works out pretty well," Yuna smiled.

"We generally don't get into too many messes," Rikku winced.

"Yuna just needs to learn to say no," Paine smirked.

"Hey," Yuna stepped away from Tidus. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Rikku grinned. "That you would dive head first into anything unless checked."

"Which generally we don't get a chance to do," Paine added and crossed her arms.

"But we charge well!" Yuna protested and raised her hands. "Doesn't that count for something."

"No," Rikku and Paine chorused.

"Yunie, Yunie," Rikku shook her head.

"You can't talk," Paine tossed at Rikku.

"Yeah," Yuna grinned, happy the heat was being taken off of her failings.

"Hey, no fair. I thought I explained, but you two just don't get it." Rikku and wiggled away from Gippal and glared arms akimbo at her friends.

"Explained what?" Tidus brow furrowed.

"Nothing," the three girls said quickly. Meaning it was nowhere near close to being nothing. Tidus glanced between them.

"Uh, huh," he said.

"Girl talk," Yuna explained.

"Oh, that again," Tidus nodded but his look told Yuna that'd she have to explain later.

Gippal tucked his arms through the spaces between Rikku's arms and body, essentially hugging her waist. He picked her up. "Explained?" He asked in her ear.

"Eep," Rikku squealed, legs flailing. "Put me down."

"Nope. Not until you tell me."

"I had too," she whined. "By the way, Brother is jealous of you again."

"Brother's always jealous, don't avoid the topic."

"But they don't believe me." She glanced down at the ground. "Ah, please put me down, Gippal." She pried at his hands.

Paine sighed. "Perhaps we should leave you two alone, especially since you can't keep your hands off each other."

Gippal looked up and dropped Rikku at the same time. "Huh?"

Yuna looked at Paine and nodded. It was like they had a silent communication thing going, making a plan and coming up with it on the fly. "Well, you and Rikku can go to Guadosalam from here by hover. It's not too far. While Tidus and I go to Gagazet by the Celsius."

"And I find out who can represent the Hypello," Paine nodded.

"And we'll all reconvene at Luca," Yuna finished. "I'll use the commspheres to tell the others."

Rikku swayed trying to find her balance as these decisions were being made. She ended up leaning against Gippal. They couldn't mean to do what she thought they meant. She looked between their serious faces. Yep, they did. She almost whimpered. This was cruel, very cruel and almost unusual but the problem was she couldn't think of anything she'd done wrong.

"So, let's make our excuses," Paine said. "And go."

Gippal blinked as comprehension dawned on him. 'Oh shit,' he thought. 'Paine thinks at least that Rikku and I are pretending to be a couple so we can actually be a couple.' He stiffened. 'She may have a point.'

Rikku looked up and frowned. 'I'll ask him later,' she told herself.

Paine suited actions to words and headed back towards the ship. "Let's go."

"See you in Luca," Tidus grabbed Yuna's hand and headed after Paine. Yuna turned and waved at them.

"Have fun," she shouted and winked her blue eye.

"Yunie," Rikku whispered. "Paine, how can you do this to me?" She sighed and waved back. She watched with a longing expression on her face as the Celsius took off and blasted over the cliffs towards Gagazet. She turned her head and saw Avril glaring at her. Rikku slouched against Gippal more. "I can hurt them later, right?"

"Just keep following the plan and you do whatever you want." Gippal told her.

"Which plan?"

Gippal kept silent and busied himself by caressing her shoulder with his lips. He couldn't reach her neck since the scarf was in the way. "Hmm," he started. "We have two choices. One, we stay the night here and leave in the morning and make Guadosalam before midday." He said between the feather light kisses. "Or, we leave now and make it there at nightfall and stay in the inn and talk to Trommell in the morning."

Rikku's arm had snaked over his neck. Her lips parted and she moaned. Gippal paused and pulled back slightly.

"Well?" He asked into her ear.

Rikku flushed and her eyes snapped open. "I don't know," she admitted stuttering. "What was the question?"

He chuckled. "Leave now or later?"

Rikku bit the inside of her lip and weathered it for a moment, her fingers playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. "Now," her eyes went back to Avril and she flushed again as she realized what Gippal had been doing to her in public no less. "And whose going to tell Avril and what are we going to tell her?"

"How about both of us and the truth, such as it is." Gippal answered.

"Sounds fair," Rikku muttered and Gippal straightened and her arm fell back to her side.

"You think you're ready?"

Rikku frowned. "Just a sec," she pulled a dagger from her side and dug into her pouches for her lip-gloss with the other hand. Gippal raised an eyebrow. He'd been right, definitely strawberry banana. Gippal watched amused as Rikku used the side of her red electroplated dagger as a mirror to expertly apply the pink viscous fluid. The metal used to cover it was flaking off from hard use. She examined her work critically and he snorted. She capped the container and put it away and re-sheathed the dagger. "Don't laugh." She complained.

"No wonder your lips taste good," Gippal still had his hands on her waist so he turned her to face him.

"Gippal!" Rikku flushed. "If we want to get to Guadosalam by nightfall we need to leave now."

"I know that, but you're so tempting."

'Okay, Gippal is getting into this as well.' Rikku glanced over at Avril. "Avril," she hissed.

Gippal sighed and wrapped an arm about her, "Spoilsport."

"Jackass," she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Careful or I will kiss you," Gippal warned.

Rikku sighed and rested her head against his shoulder as they walked across to where Avril was standing. 'He's ruining my reputation,' she thought. 'Of course, it would help if I could remember what my reputation was.'

Gippal looked down at her and grinned. Avril raised her eyebrows as they came up to her.

Rikku rolled her eyes. "There's been a change in plans," she said. "You," she pointed at Avril. "Need to go to Luca."

"Luca? What is in and where is Luca?"

Rikku reminded herself that Avril hadn't ever left Bikanel before.

'Hoo boy,' Gippal thought.

"Okay," Rikku took a deep breath. "Where the road forks at you need to go left down the Djose Highroad past Mushroom Rock and down the Mi'ihen Highroad. There is Luca and Luca is the entertainment capital of Spira where they hold Blitzball every year. We're moving the meetings there. Now, when you go down the first steps into Luca there is a plaza with a large crystal statue in it. Meet us there at that statue in anytime between two days to a week. You can rent a hover at Djose and on the Mi'ihen to get there faster. The Mi'ihen also has chocobos if you prefer them."

"Wait, you'll meet me? Where are you going?" Avril's voice sounded panicked.

"Guadosalam, the opposite direction to speak to the leader of the Guado."

"The Guado?" Avril's eyes narrowed and she placed a hand on her hip.

'She needs to get out more,' Gippal thought.

"The Guado are another race on Spira," Rikku explained as patiently as possible. "You'll see them in Luca."

"What if I wanted to go with you?"

"No," Rikku and Gippal said at once.

Rikku held up her hands. "Avril, it's quicker if two people travel together rather than three. Plus you're completely safe on the way to Luca if you rent hovers and such. No fiends should bother you."

"And you should leave tomorrow and we got to leave tonight." Gippal added. "Like right now if we want to make good time. Rikku nodded.

"Good luck," Rikku waved as Gippal grabbed her hand and began leading her away much like Tidus had done to Yuna. "Remember, Djose, Mushroom Rock, Mi'ihen, Luca, Plaza, two to five days."

Avril looked after them and shook her head. She saw Rikku move quicker to walk next to Gippal. He wrapped his arm about her again and said something. The blonde looked up and laughed. Avril smiled. 'Excellent, they were so good for each other as kids. They only needed a little push. Phase one of my plan is working quite nicely. Hopefully, phase two will go so well.'

--

Rikku decided that being around Gippal was a bit like an addictive drug. She couldn't stop touching him if she wanted and it seemed that he felt the same about her. They'd been out of Avril's sight for five minutes and were coming upon the hovers and he still hadn't let go, not that she'd made any moves to do so either. Rikku set her shoulders and looked at him.

"I'm driving," she said.

"What?" Gippal looked down.

"I'm driving."

"It's my hover so I should drive."

"I'm better than you are, faster reaction times," she grinned. "Besides you owe me and this is a way you can start paying."

"My hover," Gippal said stubbornly.

"I'll let you shoot bandits from the back," Rikku wheedled. She made her eyes real large and pouted.

'Don't give me the puppy dog eyes, don't give me the eyes,' Gippal thought. 'Damn it, she gave me the eyes.' He ran his hand through his hair. "Fine, you can drive."

"All right," Rikku instantly broke into a grin. Her ploy had worked.

"If," he raised a finger. "You let me kiss you."

She stopped and and Gippal's walking momentum made him curve around her so that he faced her. This suited him well. He smirked at her shocked expression.

"What? You owe me." She pouted. "You owe me and you want me to let you kiss me so I can drive. I'm going to let you use a firearm near my head and you still want a kiss." She couldn't quite believe what she was hearing.

Gippal placed a hand on his chin, cocked his head and pretended to think a moment. "Yeah."

She sighed," Fine, I'll let you kiss me."

Gippal turned and began walking away. "Then you can drive."

"You're not going to kiss me now?" Rikku jogged after him.

He grinned back her. "Nope," he paused. "Don't sound so disappointed. You were the one who failed to specify when, where or how many times."

Rikku's thoughts floundered. 'What have I gotten into? And he looks more like a pirate than ever!' Her mouth opened and closed a few times.

"But, you can drive," Gippal added.

"Not a fair deal," She said peeved.

He chuckled.

"Jackass," she added as they came upon the hovers.

"Only jackasses can change the world," he told her.

"Sounds like something Auron would say," she muttered and vaulted into the driver's seat.

"You're right, he did." Gippal climbed in next to her. "You did say I could use my gun right?"

"Yeah, extra points for precision shots." She turned to look at him and started the hover at the same time. "Where did you meet Auron?"

"On Bikanel, around the time Yuna defeated Sin and I was on the run from the Crimson Squad."

Rikku looked forward and the hover shot off from park, "Oh."

"What happened to him?" Gippal shouted in her ear.

"He was an unsent," she shouted back. "Sending Sin, sent him and Tidus."

"Tidus is dead?" Gippal frowned. He didn't like the sound of that.

Rikku shook her head and glanced up at the cliffs. "Bandits at three o'clock gunner!"

"Avast!" Gippal shouted and began to fire. His one eye gave him an advantage. He didn't have to squint to focus down the gun. The loss of depth perception and peripheral vision seemed minor losses to this at times.

The bandits jumped off the cliff and ran in front of the hover to stop them. Rikku stepped on the gas and instead of swerving to miss them, swerved to hit them in a deadly game of chicken. Gippal rested his gun on her shoulder to steady it and fired at the bandit's heads and limbs. He had the pleasure of seeing some of the shots hit the sword-toting thieves. Most though dived out of the way when they saw that the two weren't going to stop, so neither the hover nor the bullets hit them.

The curve was ahead. A ninety-degree curve that upset many normal paced hovers.

"Yeah!" Rikku screamed and stepped onto the brake and cruised around the curve, the hover sticking to the ground because of the momentum. She stepped back on the gas to get them up the next incline.

At the crest of the hill Gippal grinned and leaned in to talk to her. "This hover is good for water too."

"Sweet," she poured on the gas, the decline helping to speed them up and once at the flat spot before the bank maintained that speed. Gippal holstered his weapon and hung on as the hover went from land to water in a great white spray of droplets. The hover's nose elevated and a great wake splayed behind them and disturbed the water to either sides so that he couldn't see the city below them.

'So much for romantic sights,' he thought.

They swerved around a lumbering shoopuf. Rikku waved to the passengers and Gippal laughed at their blurred faces for he could see they were shocked. It was a good thing that shoopuf's themselves were so placid. The hypello waved his arms at them but neither paid attention or could tell if it was in excitement or alarm. Hypellos were so vague.

The opposite shore came up quickly and Rikku squinted her eyes. This was the tricky part, going back from water to land without wrecking the hover. She looked for the smoothest place possible, which was where the shoopuf had worn a track out of the water and aimed for it. The hover shot through the legs of the waiting shoopuf, past screaming, running and waving children who'd lined the shore to watch them and the hover, Rikku's hair blowing wildly continued down the trail still spraying water from it's runners. There was one my curve before they got there and so Rikku took it the same way she took the one on the other side of the river. She stepped on the brake and shot over the bridge, teeth rattling and up the hill towards the entrance. She swerved into a picture perfect stop next to the cave hole.

In a display of complete control, Rikku shut down the hover and leaned back to look at Gippal. Her face hurt from grinning. "I need to get me one of these," she joked and began to laugh. Her chest rose and fell attractively.

Gippal shook his head and began to laugh with her. Her wild ride had gotten them there in two thirds of the time it would have taken him. She sat back up and jumped out, stretching. He climbed out after her. She couldn't stop grinning as she looked at him.

"Now, that was fun," she said and walked away from him.

Gippal caught up with her in the middle of the glowing green floor that welcomed people to Guadosalam and was a beautiful piece of art. 'I think this makes up for the lack of romantic sights earlier,' he thought and wrapped his arms about her waist, turning her about to face him. She stared up at him, not quite comprehending what he was doing. Her face still set in that beautiful, happy smile.

"Now I kiss you," he breathed and before she could protest he leaned down and captured her lips with his. Rikku went up on tiptoe and wrapped her arms about his neck. His tongue explored her lips then the inside of her mouth and Rikku pressed closer to him, her eyes open and staring into his one light green eye and eye patch.

'Oh shit,' she thought in fragment. 'Am I pretending anymore? And when did I stop?' Her brain whirled. 'We only started this charade recently and now, I can't tell what my feelings are. I should break away but it feels so good. I don't want to and damn it I kissed him first. Things have just gone downhill from that.' She stopped thinking about it and just enjoyed the kiss. Her eyes fluttered closed and she began to reciprocate. Her hands traveled to his upper arms and she clung on to the very different wild ride than she'd just given.

Gippal pulled away very slowly. Rikku's eyes snapped back open and she stared at him. He couldn't tell whose heart was beating faster or harder, his or Rikku's. He was really beginning to like the taste of strawberry-banana. He leaned down and kissed her again gently and softly like that first kiss she'd given him in Bevelle.

She didn't resist and it was almost his undoing. He pulled and licked his lips. "We've got work to do," he muttered but didn't let go. 'Oh Yevon,' he couldn't look away from Rikku. 'She's so beautiful.'

'Is he as confused as I am?' Rikku thought as she nodded. Her eyes wide and lips still slightly parted. The blood rushing to her ears was not helping her hearing. They didn't move for a few more minutes. "Yeah, work," She said slowly and couldn't look away either.

Gippal closed his eye. He knew it was the only way to make his body move again, to be able to walk into Guadosalam and do what they had come here to do. Rikku bit her lip and waited. It wasn't like she could move until he did not that she wanted to. His eye snapped open and he glanced towards the tunnel that led to their destination. He kept one arm around her and started walking towards it. There was the goal and he was determined to get there.

Rikku let go of him and fell into step with him. She glanced up at hi profile. 'What is he thinking?'

Gippal was trying not to think. Thinking right now was a dangerous thing. It led to soft hair, eager sugary tasting lips, emerald eyes and a sweetly curved body that he was longing to explore more. 'Oh yeah, this is no longer a role.' Gippal thought. 'Making out with her for hours is no longer an option but a necessity. Oh shit, I'm in so much trouble. What if she doesn't feel the same?'

The innkeeper was more than pleased to rent them a room and Gippal was more than pleased to fall into a bed. It had been a long day and it wasn't over yet.

Rikku sat on the edge near him and played with the ends of her scarf. "Gippal?"

He had his hand over his eye and he raised it a bit to look at her. "Yeah?"

"This isn't pretending anymore is it? It's for real." She glanced up at him and her face flushed.

Gippal wanted to deny it but something told him if he did. He'd lose the best thing in his life right now. Plus it answered his earlier thoughts. So he sighed, "yeah."

Her mouth dropped. She hadn't expected him to admit it and was preparing to, well she wasn't sure what, if he'd denied it. But he hadn't. Her mind went blank. He raised an eyebrow at her in silent query. "I wasn't expecting you to admit it," she murmured.

He smirked. "And lose any chance I had with you, not that dumb."

She looked down at her scarf again. "Do you want to discuss it or just go with the flow?"

"I kiss you, you kiss back. What's to discuss?" He grinned.

"Jackass," she muttered and glanced up at him. But there was a smile tugging at her lips.

"Yeah, and you love it." He said and grabbed her waist gently.

She jumped and scooted off the bed. "Ack!"

Gippal sat up and his grin became wider. Rikku backed away hands up, shaking her head.

"I do believe someone is ticklish," he teased.

"You weren't supposed to find out," Rikku groaned.

"Then don't leave so much tempting skin exposed." He lunged at her.

"Eep!" She dodged and ran to put the bed between them.

He licked his lips and she shifted her position back and forth.

"Please don't Gippal," she begged.

"Does it hurt you?" He asked, a tad concerned. If it did, he'd leave well enough alone.

"Well, no but, ah!" She stumbled backwards as he tackled her. His hands attacked her sides and she convulsed with laughter. This went on for a few minutes until Gippal suddenly stopped and just stared at her. She wiped tears from her eyes and tried to regain her breath.

"What?" She whispered after he didn't stop staring.

He shook his head and did what he was going to do before discovering her wonderful weakness. He kissed her.

"Gippal," she murmured between kisses. "The-bed-is-so-much-more-comfortable."

He pulled back and cocked his head. "Good point," he grabbed her waist, pulled her up and he got to his feet then tossed her onto the bed. She giggled as she bounced and he hit the bed beside her on his back. She rolled up to look at him. He smiled back. "I think we need to take this slow."

She sighed and nodded. "It's probably a good idea, but," she raised a finger. "I'm not responsible for anything I do while asleep."

"Then cuddle next to me right now and spare your inert body the effort." He wiggled his eyebrows.

She removed the scarf and raised an eyebrow back. "What happened to taking things slow?"

"Oh come off it," he snorted. "We haven't stopped touching when around each other for more than five minutes," he paused. "Not counting the hover ride."

Her pouches went next and ended up on the bedside table. "Ahh, well, I thought hanging onto people in public was rather coupley thing to do, but you take it too far."

"You kissed me first," he rose on his elbows.

"I was trying to be convincing," she shot back.

"So you kissed me in front of an entire council meeting." He retorted, "without prompting"

"Oh like that did a blow to your ego," she snorted.

He grinned. "No, but it did shock me, Cid's little girl kissing in public."

"Argh, why are we even discussing this?" She flopped backwards and stared at the ceiling. "I thought I was only doing what you wanted." Gippal's face appeared above her face concerned. She glared at him and he cleared his throat.

"Why discuss? 'Cause I was waiting for your neck to be free," he confessed. Her flush started at chest level and went up her neck and covered her face.

"Sicko," she muttered.

He smirked, leaned down and kissed her neck gently. "Not really."

She played with his hair. "Oh, just a man then."

He looked up at her for a moment and grinned not the least bit ashamed. "Most men are pervs," he admitted. "Me, I just like your neck and your lips and-" he trailed off as he saw Rikku's eyes widen. He could have said so much more but Rikku wasn't patient enough for him to list off all of her many virtues and idiosyncrasies that he considered virtues. He'd have to say more later," everything about you." He finished.

She forced his head down and kissed him fervently. When they broke apart gasping she grinned up at him. "Likewise," she muttered.

He chuckled. "I thought I was a jackass."

"But remember what you said. I love jackasses, but I haven't met another as bad as you. So, you're stuck."

He rolled over, putting her on top. "Now that that's settled. I'm tired."

She wiggled down so she could rest her head on his chest and sighed. It was the beat of his heart that put her to sleep and her evenness of breath that put him out.

--

It turned out convincing Trommell to help wasn't that hard at all. Gippal mentioned something about a government and Trommell was agreeing before he could say much more. All Rikku had to do was look pretty and reapply her lip-gloss before meeting with the Guado elder. She made a note to get a new tube in Luca. Gippal was going to make her run out and it was her favorite flavor. When she had complained and stated that very thing. Gippal had shrugged, grinned and said it was now his favorite flavor too.

Rikku didn't want to think too hard on what that meant, but she'd asked what his favorite flavor had been before and he'd bit his lip to keep from laughing at her. He then informed her he hadn't had a favorite flavor. Which meant two things, he hadn't dated many other girls or he had and they didn't wear flavored lip-gloss. Rikku decided she didn't want to know, curiosity only took you so far before it hurt you. What mattered was that her favorite was now his favorite and that he was going to let her drive all the way to Luca.

Kisses were guaranteed.

Trommell had wisely decided to walk to Luca. He didn't trust the gleam in Rikku's eye and was doubly grateful he'd declined as he watched the couple take off. Rikku already grinning leaning over the controls and Gippal warning her not to have too much fun, though he knew she wouldn't listen.

With Rikku driving it took half a day to get to Luca, splashing the shoopuf, mowing down bandits, scattering League members, and coordinating passage with other hovers down the Mi'ihen Highroad. The sun was setting as they trotted down the stairs hand in hand towards the Plaza where they said they'd meet Avril.

She sat on a bench, eating a sandwich, 'Oh yes,' she thought as she saw them. 'Phase one complete.' The happiness on Rikku's face could not be forced, Gippal's relaxed pose was rather normal for him but his comfortableness around Rikku was new. Avril's stomach twisted and she shook her head to remind herself it wasn't Gippal she was after. But it hurt to watch them like this. She waved at them so they'd see her. Rikku waved back and tugged on Gippal's arm.

"Mission accomplished!" She shouted as they approached.

Avril frowned and nodded, though she had no idea what they were talking about. Rikku glanced about the plaza. Rikku's radio tweeted.

"Rikku here," she touched the mike and reported in.

"We're at Dock 5," Brother told her.

"Meet you there then," Rikku grinned.

Avril stood up and dusted off her hands. 'Phase two, coming up.'

"Have you seen the Celsius?" Rikku asked.

Avril frowned, "From a distance." 'And that's the problem,' she thought.

"Oh, then this is your first time seeing her up close. Brother, Buddy and I have put a lot of love in her." Rikku threaded her way through the crowds to the docks.

Avril crossed her arms and frowned. But Rikku and Gippal weren't paying attention.

There was a large group waiting for them. A bulky blue figure near Tidus and Yuna made Rikku's face light up. "Kimhari!" She waved. Two smaller blue figures came from behind him and Rikku jumped up and down. "Lian, Ayde, you came too!"

"Lian and Ayde want to see more of Spira, but Elder Kimhari didn't want us to go by selves." Lian told her as they came close. Rikku giggled and glanced around to see who else was there. Paine was surrounded by a small group of Hypellos that were murmuring more to each other than to Paine.

Buddy and Brother were talking near the hatch for the Celsius. Buddy was gesturing when he saw them. He stopped talking and his arm dropped. Brother turned about. His face paled and he ran a hand through his Mohawk. "Avril?" He stuttered.

Rikku and Gippal looked at each other. Rikku shrugged. Gippal looked back at Avril. She had her arms crossed and she pushed past Rikku and Gippal. She stopped three feet from Brother and tapped her foot. Brother gulped.

Paine looked between Brother and Avril, then Avril and Gippal and then Rikku and Gippal, still holding hands. She began to smirk.

Buddy clapped Brother on the shoulder. _"Go get her man," _He said.

"Avril," Brother stammered again.

Avril sighed. 'He hasn't changed a bit. His hair is still ridiculous, though he has more piercings now than ever. But they looked good,' she shook her head. 'But his tattoos are just as wild. Only now he has a ship to go with the look and does he ever stop to see me. No!'

Brother got over his shock, whooped and scooped her into his arms. "Avril!" He shouted and twirled it about.

Avril's frown involuntarily turned into a grin. "Brother," she rested her hands on his shoulders to steady herself. "Brother, _stop_!" She shrieked. Brother set her down and she smiled up at him. "_I'm supposed to be mad at you_."

_"You are?" _Brother cocked his head.

_"Yes,"_ she pounded his shoulder. _"Ooh, you are so dense."_ She muttered. _"And that makes it so hard?"_

_"Hard?" _

"Oh, you mohawked buf-" 

Brother cut her off by kissing her.

Rikku sighed and turned to bury her face in Gippal's chest. Burned into her memory was both Yuna's and Paine's grins. Gippal's face went into her hair. "We've been had," he whispered.

"Completely duped," Rikku agreed. She took a step back so she wouldn't hurt him when she looked up. "Oops," she grinned, leaned up and kissed him.

--

END STORY!

So, I'm twisted. Kudo's for those of you who figured out Avril's name is an anagram on top of being a perfectly acceptable name! Tell me if you did! I want to hear! Since there is a one shot there shall be no next time. If you want me to respond to your reviews leave me an email. I like chatting.

Ringy-P aka RingPrincess

PS: Oops, I didn't notice until after I posted that you couldn't see my emails so people can't see how to contact me! And it won't let me put them in either. Argh! Ah well, this give me a chance to do shout outs to those who have reviewed thus far.

Sweet Angel Taisha: Thank you, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Black Windy Angel: Irony is fun! Thanks for reading!

Reviewer: Of course I plan more fics like this one, I'm a romantic comedy writer after all!

Seagull 12348: Thank you for your constructive criticism. Yet to get as deeply into the character as you'd like I'd have to have twice the space! Have patience please those are coming.

CrazyGirl22: They are made for each other, they are opposites after all, so they love and hate each other. Makes life interesting.

DarkAngelius: An anagram is when you either write a poem off a word or you mix up the letters to make a new word. IE evil = vile = veil

Kingleby: Such high praise, thank you. I'll try to keep my ego in check.

Lady Luna: LOL, then I accomplished my purpose, to make you laugh, but a sequel, not to this particular story, at least not yet.

Mystic Blue: It makes me feel good to hear that I made someone smile. Thank you for reading!

Cella: Congratulations, you figured it out first! And of course they'd been had, that was the idea in the first place!


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